Are we flinty yet? Apparently the answer is yes.
A year ago I took umbrage when new President Obama dissed Washingtonians for closing schools because of “some ice.” At the time, he said our area could use some “flinty Chicago toughness.”
Now, after two blizzards that dumped roughly three feet of snow on the region, Obama has changed his tone and says we’ve experienced “Snowmageddon.”
As we face a fourth day that the federal government is closed in this region, the Washington Post offers this nugget: “It costs about $100 million in revenue and operational costs each day the federal government is closed in the Washington area because of bad weather, according to the Office of Personnel Management.” I’m assuming the Post means lost revenue.
The Federal Communications Commission remains closed as well, though electronic documents may still be uploaded to its Web site. And I’d be surprised if the federal government opens Friday. The subway is operating underground only and our roads hadn’t been cleared from the first blizzard before our area got hit again, turning remaining snow and sleet on the roads to ice. It’s going to take a few days before our roads are safe again.
Mine was one of the 200,000+ households in Montgomery County, Md., that lost power during the storm. It got down to 48 degrees … in the house. Coming into a cold house after repeatedly shoveling out both our house and our neighbor’s was rough. Yet I’m lucky to have power again; some households still are without electricity.
Thank goodness the Olympics are starting soon, to give us something else to focus on.
I’m feeling redeemed that President Obama has given us “snow respect” this time around.
